Our Irish Wedding Dream: Shawna & Jonathan

Today's gorgeous wedding film documents Shawn & Jonathan's incredibly intimate wedding in Coolclogher House. This American couple dreamed of having a destination wedding in Ireland for years, and finally made it happen. 11 of their closest friends and family came with them to Kerry for a beautiful, romantic and meaningful ceremony and reception. Hit play on their atmospheric film by Eye Capture Weddings, then read the story behind their day below...

Watch Shawna & Jonathan's Beautiful Wedding Film

From the Bride & Groom

Jonathan and I's story begins at a local restaurant in Tampa, Florida. I was working nights as I studied for my bachelors degree during the day. Jonathan and his group of friends became my regular customers on Friday nights. I always made sure to reserve a table for them. After many months of getting to know the group, Jonathan and I began communicating outside the restaurant and eventually went on our first date.

After five years of dating, Jonathan proposed at Epcot at Walt Disney World. We spent the next few years joking that we would get married in Ireland, as we had always talked about visiting and had ruled out having a traditional wedding. I doubt either of us thought that would actually come true.

After our engagement, life got busy. We both were working full time and I went back to school to pursue a master's degree so wedding plans got pushed aside to accommodate our life goals. After graduating, I finally had time to start planning. About 18 months before the wedding, we got serious and decided to make our Irish wedding dream a reality. It still seems unbelievable that we actually pulled it off.

If people think planning a local wedding is tough, planning a wedding in another country only adds another set of challenges. There was no possibility for venue visits, meeting the photographers at an engagement shoot, menu or cake tastings, hair or makeup trials, or practice floral arrangements.

Being featured on OneFabDay is so extremely neat because I actually relied on this site a lot when I was planning. Looking for reliable, highly talented vendors and wedding ideas was so important to us and this site was of insurmountable value. (Editor's note: So nice of you to say - thanks Shawna! Chuffed we were able to help!)

We knew traveling to Ireland would mean a limited number of people would be able to make the trip and be a part of our wedding. We were so lucky to have some of our close family and friends make the trip to support us. We travelled from Florida to Ireland as a group of 13.

It was really important that we all had a shared place to call home for our week in Killarney. Hunting down a place to accommodate us all and act as a wedding venue was my first priority. Many hours of research and lots of emails later, we had found the perfect place to host our family and friends for the week.

The Coolclogher House had great reviews, seven bedrooms each with an ensuite bathroom (the exact number we needed), had hosted intimate wedding groups in the past, and Mary, the owner, was so inviting and helpful during the planning process. We had such a great time there and a beautiful setting for our outdoor ceremony.

Exactly nine years after our first date, we said "I do" in Ireland surrounded by our friends and family. With such a small group, we had an awesome opportunity to give everyone a part in the ceremony. To begin, we had the group all dress in a corresponding color palette. The guys had matching attire and the gals were given free choice to express their styles and
personalities within the color scheme. The hope for the end result was to have a cohesive group look that would blend with the natural environment.

In addition to attire, we included a handfasting into the ceremony. We wanted each of our guests to present a symbolic colored cord to be fastened into our knot. Jonathan and I hand-made each cord prior to the wedding. This knot has become an awesome keepsake from the day that we have framed and hung above our bed as a reminder of our commitment to each other.

Following the ceremony. We spent the rest of the day enjoying our wedding dinner, enjoying our specially prepared cheesecake, our favorite dessert, as our wedding cake, and dancing throughout the evening to some Irish tunes played by local musicians.

It was a great, stress-free day. Looking back at our pictures and video preview from the day has only confirmed that it turned out perfect and exactly as we had imagined.

Special thanks to the amazing team of people who helped make it all possible. We couldn't have asked for better vendors. After speaking with them for so long and having them as part of our day, they feel more like friends now.